Each of us has sixty-four great-great-great-great-grandparents, but only my children have the sixty-four here*. Rather than tracing back a long list of names, this site looks at the lives of one generation and offers a glimpse into British 19th century life. It delights me to think that, in the years leading up to the end of the Georgian Age in 1830, all of them were alive, spread out across this island from Edinburgh to Devon, and yet most of them did not know each other.

None of them is famous, but most are skilled tradesmen and/or literate, so they have all left records behind. Differing attitudes to illegitimacy; desperate attempts to be accepted into the middle classes; crime; national events; all form regular parts of their stories. Together they form a fascinating picture.

Genealogy has two attractions for me: the social history and the detective work. If some people just want to stick together larger and larger trees, even when all logic tells them that they cannot be true, let them; but they are missing the point and the enjoyment. Perhaps it shouldn't make us any more interested in the past simply because a distant relative is involved, but it does. And if the journey there involves putting together several separate pieces of evidence, so much the better: finding Richard Gibb's parents was an example of that.

Have I been fortunate in being able to find out so much? Probably; although the number of unpromising starts that eventually led to interesting places suggests that others could have similar success. That George Knott's biography is the longest and most detailed is partly down to his living in London; but more so because it was the first to be written and had the most time spent on it.

Richard Knott

The depth of red/yellow represents the amount of information and personal anecdotes that have been found for that individual.
Over time most biographies will have more background detail on the area and local events added. This tends to be greater for those living in cities.

Most details

Many details

Reasonable details

Some details

Fewest details

I am happy for any information on this site to be used by others. All the research is original (with some helpful individuals on Rootschat finding a few important baptisms and other facts that eluded me - I hope I have credited them all in the footnotes), although I am used to some of it coming back to me as if discovered by others! I would be happy to hear of any errors that are spotted and delighted to know of any new information.
In time, all the evidence behind the biographies will be published, but the first task is to get something down for each of them.

In the short term any contact will need to be via 'RJKnott' on Rootschat or directly using rjk AT canford.com